The Miami Dolphins had a productive rushing attack in Mike McDaniel’s first year, as Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr., the team’s two top backs in 2022, averaged 4.84 yards per carry.
However, McDaniel didn’t really commit to the run game as much as he would’ve liked. They actually had the second-fewest rushing attempts (390) in the NFL, only ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (386).
One thing that’s made Miami’s rushing attack so strong is the blocking of wide receivers in the offense. Wideouts like Tyreek Hill and Trent Sheffield excelled in that area of the game last season, making things easier for Mostert and Wilson to find lanes and focus on fewer defenders.
Blocking isn’t a glamorous aspect of football, but McDaniel seems to get the most out of his receivers. How does he do it?
“This seed was planted in 2005, my first year as a coaching intern in defense, and shout out to Mike Shanahan because he set the whole vision,” McDaniel said during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.” “Wide receiver position is tricky in general because you get compensated for the pass game. Typically, good football players have pride and try to do it, but the bottom line is it’s not like ‘Let’s go pay this guy ’cause he’s got sick blocks.’ So, how do you incentive guys to participate in something that’s less dividend-paying directly as catching a pass?
“What coach Shanahan would do is he would watch Thursday’s practice, the team run period, which everybody does around the league in some way, shape or form. He would watch that portion of practice as an entire offense on Friday with the thinking that the best way to motivate receivers to take pride and detail in the run game, the best way to really emphasize that it takes all 11 players on the field to run the ball well, is to have them all watch that together. It’s the peer pressure from the locker room, guys saying ‘Dude, you’re just gonna loaf and let me get tattooed by a strong safety?’
“That was his kind of way of really emphasizing and really getting that done, and every place we’ve been we’ve really kind of taken that. It’s something that you can’t relent on. Your offensive coordinator has to be fully committed to it. The receiver coach has to be willing to drive it home. Unbeknownst to most people, Wes Welker is a low-key run-game guy. He just loves receiver blocks more than anything. For it to look different, you have to approach it different. You get what you emphasize.”
McDaniel may be young, but he has a ton of experience learning from a legend like Shanahan and, obviously, Kyle Shanahan as well. Luckily, he’s taken all of that knowledge and used it to make his team better when he got his chance to shine.
In 2023, Miami hopes to have a full year of the Mostert-Wilson combo, provided they both stay healthy, and they should have even more success with McDaniel saying he wants to commit more to the rushing attack going forward.
